Update: Shortly after the update botch was noticed by Notion Ink, they halted distribution of the update in question because it was not downloading completely. If you have a bricked Adam, here is the fix as e-mailed to Notion Ink Fan:

No one here at Android Police has a device to test this fix on - so be careful, and read the warning.

How to flash your Adam and get it working again

WARNING This fix is recommended only if your Adam has stopped booting up after installing the over-the air system update on 24 January. Please don't use the method indicated to flash your Adam with any ROM not from Notion Ink, as it would probably damage your Adam irreparably.

Please read this whole document before proceeding.PRE-REQUISITES You need to have the following items 1. A Windows or Linux PC 2. The Notion Ink Adam you wish to flash 3. A mini-USB to USB cable for connecting the two (It's not included in the Adam package, but you might have one lying around. If not, it's readily available in any electronics shop) 4. The appropriate Adam Recovery Kit which you can download from the URLs below. (About 80MB)

OVERVIEW Here's a summary of what you'll be doing: 1. On your PC, extract the Adam Recovery Kit. 2. Restart your Adam in “Force Recovery” mode and connect it to the PC. 3. If you're on Windows, install the USB drivers from the Recovery Kit. 4. Run the ROM flash utility from your PC, and wait for it to complete.

1. EXTRACT Using your favourite ZIP extraction tool, uncompress all the files in the Adam Recovery Kit to any folder on the hard drive of your computer.

2. RECOVERY MODE Before proceeding, ensure that your Adam has at least 50% battery charge or is connected to power and charging. Also make sure that your computer will not turn off during the flashing process. Turn off your Adam and enter force recovery mode by pressing and holding both the Volume Down (-) and Power buttons for two seconds. The orange (charge) and red (CPU) indicators on the right side of your device will light up, indicating that your Adam is in force recovery mode. Release both buttons, and connect the mini-USB port on your Adam to any free USB port on the PC using your cable.

3. INSTALL DRIVERS (Windows only) Your Windows PC will show a notification that a device “APX” has been detected. If you get a “Found new hardware” dialog box asking where to install drivers from - choose “list or specific location”. If you don't get this dialog, open the Device Manager via System in the Control Panel, find and double-click the “APX” device, and click the update driver button. Select the “usbpcdriver” folder inside the extracted Adam Recovery Kit as the driver location. You may receive a warning that the driver is not certified or signed by Windows – choose to install it anyway.

4. FLASH You're now ready to flash your Adam. Make sure that the USB cable is connected securely. To begin the process under Windows, run the “download.bat” batch file from the folder where you extracted the Recovery Kit. If you're using Linux, open a console window at the folder containing the extracted Recovery Kit, and run ./download.sh. Your device screen will show that it is being updated, and the console window will show the progress. IMPORTANT: Do not close the console window or stop the update before it is complete. If the update is interrupted mid-way, your Adam will be damaged irreparably. Hopefully all goes well, and in a couple of minutes your Adam will boot up with the new software. Congratulations! If at any point you find that things aren't going according to plan, please send an email to [email protected] right away.

Thanks for your continued support Team Notion Ink

The first of Notion Ink's Adam tablets are arriving in the hands of consumers today - and it sounds like things aren't going as smoothly as Notion Ink would like.

A tipster has informed us that upon booting up his device, he had various problems with the software keyboard, and then was informed an update was available for his Adam. After downloading the update and allowing it to install, his Adam would no longer boot. No hangs - just a blank screen. We have a picture, but there's not much to see:

Various other people have apparently been reporting similar issues, and Notion Ink has sent this email in response, telling customers to hold back on updating their Adams:

Hi!

Greetings from Notion Ink!

First of all, we would like to Welcome you to the Notion Ink Family!

We understand and share your excitement about you receiving your Adam.

Secondly, a couple of our family members who received the Adam already, reported to us that they faced some issues in updating their device.

So, as a precautionary measure, we would advice you to refrain from updating your Adam until we investigate this matter and contact you with an official update regarding this matter.

In case you need any other assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Warm Regards Notion Ink

Please DO NOT reply to this e-mail. Instead, please send a fresh e-mail to the address mentioned above.

We'll keep you updated as we get more information on the situation, suffice to say, if you're getting your Adam today - don't go for the OTA!

Comments

Poor guys, can't not make the headlines for the wrong reasons, before or after shipping the device! I really wish them luck and hope they prove themselves before the world loses interest!

joel

Well... this is crap. I hope it only gets better from herr : )

Joe

LMFAO! Priceless, I love it!

shwarma patel

I am glad I did not send them any money.

John J

Hope they cover all costs if you have to have your bricked device replaced.

Paritosh

You must not be an Indian even though your name suggests it. I have never seen the spelling "Jugdesh" being used for the name it purports to be.

Dune

Did you notice the 'Shwarma' earlier? Pretty curious, isn't it?

Kane

Check out the awesome screen protector they're shipping with the Adam. Perhaps not applied properly, but reminds me of a tint self-install on old cars that bubble up like crazy.

Ashok

Is this thing ever going to take off? They are still bungling around with pre-orders from circa Nov 2010. I wonder how the ordering process works once they go "Live". Do we have to order one and then sit around for 3 months, while my unit is manufactured and packaged from where ever in Asia. I guess, its like ordering a custom Bentley...lol..speedup Rohan Shravan, or be lost forever along with friendster, myspace and others R.I.P

Mr. x

What's with all the hate against NI?

First Android Police shouts vaporware and when they were pointed to be wrong, the comment's on this one is very ill-tempered.

Shame on you!

Myria

/doublefacepalm

saed

those who have broke their adams should be getting email from NI with a software patch or some sort. one user who had broke his adam reported this on notioninkfan blog
Hey everyone!!

great news. i got a fix from NI and it worked perfectly. Adam is up and running again after about two minutes doing a flash recovery.

they provided a linux and windows recovery (very glad for linux as that is what i rock) and two flavours of those for pixelQi vs lcd

as for those nay sayers...Apple had lots of issues with iOS4 and android manufactures have had problems when updating their OS. so even the big boyz have issues.

"as for those nay sayers…Apple had lots of issues with iOS4 and android manufactures have had problems when updating their OS. so even the big boyz have issues."

Yeah... remember the IPhone 4 antenna? ;-)

frankiej

Notion ink have fixed the so called 'bricking' issue with one user having reported using a flash recovery sent by the company succesfully. The problem has been fixed roughly around 2 hours after it appeared. Its amazing how easily people are willing to shoot down a new product without giving it a chance. Teething problems are but natural and expected. I for one am super excited about the product after looking at the reviews. Cant wait for preorder 2 to begin!

They didn't fix the problem they just recovered the device back to original state.You still can't do an update so the problem is not fixed.

Rama Maganti

@Jay
Remember iOS 4.2.1. It took ever to turn up. adam's update problem will eventually be fixed. Just cool down a bit. Give credit where it is due. The device is now working. It is not permanently bricked!

frankiej

ikbenben said...

Hey everyone!!

great news. i got a fix from NI and it worked perfectly. Adam is up and running again after about two minutes doing a flash recovery.

they provided a linux and windows recovery (very glad for linux as that is what i rock) and two flavours of those for pixelQi vs lcd

as for those nay sayers...Apple had lots of issues with iOS4 and android manufactures have had problems when updating their OS. so even the big boyz have issues.
January 24, 2011

This is what one of the users posted on the notioninkfan blog after having reported the problem at the same site.

My family asks me everyday, if our Adam arrived. Anytime I get a package in mail they think it's the Adam and get excited. Mine is scheduled to be shipped by end of this week. Just can't imagine the excitement in my family room when we actually are opening the Adam box and turn it on.

albertwertz

I am surprised the issue was fixed so quickly. Please give kudos where they are due when you are also willing to point out flaws.

Magnus

Even thought I will not be purchasing the Adam because of the meager 8GB internal storage and because it's not rocking Honeycomb yet, I think it's impressive that they fixed this problem so quickly. I doubt that such a speedy fix would have come from the Big companies like Motorola, etc. Good Job Rohan, but I'm sorry, the meager 8gb of internal storage is a deal breaker for me. I wouldn't touch a tablet that has anything less than 32GB of internal storage. All the same I think you're up to something really great. Hopefully in no time you'll be at the top of the tablet food chain.

Jason

"Bricked" isn't really an accurate term here. It implies a device that cannot function in any capacity, i.e., completely unrecoverable.

Anyway, shame on Notion Ink for sending out a buggy update, but kudos to them for fixing it within two hours.

TheTruthHurts

As I've said before, this is all part of early adoption, particularly with a company too small to have a large beta program.

They will need to work out the kinks for a few months, but they have a useful base to start. I hope their manufacturing partners have good QA. That's where REAL problems (e.g. recalls) can kill a small company. If all they deal with is OTA update issues, they'll be golden.

http://notioninkhacks.com Andy

I dont know why people are complaining. There is a fix for the few people who had a bad day. But this fix gives the entire community a way to unbrick their devices via apx mode. This is wonderful as now us hackers dont have to do it and we can focus on root, market, roms, etc. This is a great day for the Notion Ink family and some bad publicity for Notion Ink. However, look at how quickly they handled everything. Get that from someone else.

Andy Smith (NotionInkHacks.com)

brad

Well..... for all those who had patience, its paying off. Im looking forward to the XOOM, or other larger manufacture backed Android Tablet.

Apple was talking about most of these tablets are vaporware. With these kinds of issues, they could be right.

Paritosh

brad,
My wife's iPod Touch lost all contacts, info and applications on the last update. Should we call iPod vaporware?

Someone

lmfao, why are you even on an Android website?

I mean, seriously... One (small) company without any previous experience makes a recoverable mistake and you're all "with these kinds of issues" like it's going to happen with every device everywhere all the time.

As the above poster noted, issues of all sorts happen all the time to *EVERY* company -- especially the smaller ones who may not have the resources a bigger one does.

Just because one fruity company points out "omg these guys have teh fragmentashuns" doesn't mean THEY don't have it as well (except they've been gimping their hardware for a long time and charging premium for it). You should look at the Inception app's website comments for a laugh. Older devices don't work well with the app, and the non-phone hardware has issues too.

GGG

As usual, brought to you by Android Police, the forever Notion-ink hater.

Rohnits

So the update that they touted about as done and ready 3 days ago (as well as having plenty of opportunities to try it on the adams they unboxed) and zero testing had been done? Lovely to know for the future, never install updates until someone confirms it works.
As for the fix speed I'm not all that impressed as it sounds like all they did was take an earlier version of their OS that wasn't bricked or filled with bugs and instructed customers on how to flash it over. It would be like google releasing android x.8(bugged) then updates to x.81 which bricks the device so they have everyone flash to x.7. Nothing impressive there.

Paritosh

Rohnits,
Ever heard of other devices getting bricked by "tested updates"? e.g. PS3 has had quite a few. Those devices cannot even be recovered by the company, let alone the user.
Here, NI has given everyone the tools to really tinker with their device and still recover from the fallouts!
How many companies do you know give such a tool to the user?
Wake up and smell the coffee!

Rohnits

Difference here is the PS3 incidents were never every PS3 that was updated. The problem happened on every adam though(that attempted to update).

Also they didn't exactly give that tool out on goodwill. They don't have the funds to have all those devices shipped back nor can they afford to tick off people by forcing them to send it back.

ElOtro

So, does this mean that Adam's users are going to be able to explore into the OS as much as they'd like without any worries now that there is an un-brick solution as long as you flash it with their ROM?

Also, "[USB cable] is not included in the Adam package, but you might have one lying around. If not, it's readily available in amy electronics shop" Seriously?! I mean, that cable costs like what $5 dollars? $5 dollars that the final costumer would have to pay instead of the company buying in bulk for like $.10 a piece? I believe they can survive without an extra $.10 profit; if not, they are in DEEP!

Paritosh

EIOtro,
I hope for your own sake that you did not expect them to "email" a USB cable or allow it to be downloaded off the net as part of the quick fix! Otherwise it is not required for ADAM to function.
cheers!

PS: How many AV appliances do you know which ship with an HDMI cable? Or how many expensive laser printers come with a USB cable?

ElOtro

Oh SNAP! Really?! They can't deliver it via email!?!? What kind of company are these dudes running? :P

I probably misread the email but I was thinking more in the line of "it didn't come in the box."

Well, I can understand devices not shipping with an HDMI cable (given that it is a fairly new technology) AND they usually include RCA cables which is the barely minimum to interact with such devices. Like, seriously!? They never thought that someone may need a USB cord in a future time? If ADAM is not going to need it why did they even put an USB port in the tablet?

My needs do not require me buying an expensive laser printer so I couldn't tell you about that.

I bought my HDMI cord for $1 on the internet. While waiting to arrive, I had to suck it up and use the RCA cables. I also have MANY of USB cables but I am SURE that there are folks out there who have not had as many cellphones breaking on them as I had. For this reason I say that, when it comes down to you having the necessary equipment to fix a problem in your brand new product, it is an essential matter.

SS

I don't think it's that different from other companies to not include a USB cable. As the previous poster mentioned, most printers from major companies (not just laser) do not come with a USB cable and that's a bare minimum for the printer to connect to the computer.

As for HDMI cables, I don't agree with your logic. A TV company that sells you the 'latest' 3D technology does not bother to throw in at least a few years old HDMI technology? HDMI is at least as old as flat screen TVs, so it's not that 'new' anymore. What is the point in getting an HD TV without only to connect with an RCA cable?

Finally, the required cable is mini-USB, which is probably the most common cable around. Going by those who tend to order a tablet (relatively tech savvy group), it's a safe assumption that they'll have a mini-USB cable lying around.

I agree that a USB cable should've been thrown in, but just don't agree with you bashing only this company while pardoning the rest.

Chris BUrns

Mr David Ruddock - How come you sit tight and do not comment or Blog when there is some good news about Adam. As soon as you get something not good for Adam, again you start crying? Any personal issues with Mr Rohan Shravan or Notion Ink..??

Jayachandran

@chris
nice question. i do not expect an anwer. i never was. it will never come. :)

Sachin

@ElOtro,

Are you suggesting that every laptop should come with a mouse/keyboard/flash drive/HDMI cable/VGA cable?

ElOtro

Well... They already come with a keyboard. The mouse s replaced with a trackpad. Flash drive? Well, that's for saving things right? Laptops already come with space where you can keep your documents. And for the HDMI/VGA cables...well, you already have a display too; it's not like a video game system which you need to hook up to a monitor. Even my phone which did not cost as much as a tablet came with a USB cord!

Underdog

@ ELOtor , good for you , so can use the cable for NI.("but you might have one lying around.")

Aditya Sharma

I canceled my pre-order as everything appears to be a bunch of lies now..this is disgusting…i booked my device on the 10th..which is just one day after the pre-order actually started..and then getting bumped time and again is just too much to take..and that too from a company which you religiously want to succeed…i am mighty disappointed and i will never buy another product from notion ink…and i am one of those who was following this company and the Adam for more than a year…last time i check on this website. it means nothing to me anymore.